As I mentioned in a previous post, I am participating in the $10,000 Treasure Valley Weight Loss Challenge being held by the Humphrey’s Diabetes Center in Boise. We had our initial weigh-in today. The damage: 242 pounds…ugh. Well, it’s all downhill from here. We have monthly weigh-ins starting in June and continuing through October. I’ll post updates.

I have known for years that I needed to lose some (or even a lot of) weight. For some reason though, pesky things like better health simply were not enough to motivate me to give it a serious run. However, I have now found my motivation: cold, hard, cash.

That’s right, the Treasure Valley is having it’s own version of The Biggest Loser. The fee is $50 to enter. The first weigh-in will be this weekend. Then there will be monthly weigh-ins for the next 6 months. The biggest loser (by percentage) will take home the grand prize of $3,000. I really want to win the big prize, but even if I “just” lose weight, it is well worth the $50 entry fee.

Four Corners is the only place in the United Status where four state boundaries (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) come together. It was originally surveyed in 1868 and the first marker was placed there in 1912. The problem is, the survey was wrong. It turns out that the correct intersection is about 2.5 miles east of the marker.

I don’t know why, but I find it strangely humorous that millions of people have visited this monument over nearly 100 years and have taken pictures doing various goofy stunts to cover all 4 states–all to no avail. It was all a lie. (evil laughter)

Obama is committing to stem the tide of illegal weapons crossing the boarder from the US to Mexico…yet does nothing to get a commitment from Mexico to stem the tide of illegal immigrants to the US?

Let me get this straight…

Obama promised that those making under $250K per year “will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime.”…yet steeply raised the tobacco tax (a regressive tax on the poor), is letting the 2001 tax cuts lapse (that’s a tax increase folks), and is proposing increasing the capital gains tax from 15% to 20% (ummm…people making under $250K per year invest too).

Let me get this staight…

Obama is closing Guantanamo Bay and releasing terrorists back on to the streets…in some cases in the US…while demonizing the dissenting voices of the peaceful Tax Day Tea Protests and in so many words calling them terrorists?

What the hell is wrong with this country? Things are so upside down. We’ve got to take our country back and restore the Constitution.

The Older Daughter has been invited by her grandma to take a 15-day European cruise this summer. (I am very jealous, but that’s another story.) Her passport expired a few weeks back, so we needed to get it renewed. We went to the State Department’s website to find the requirements. It said that we needed to bring her old passport or her birth certificate, and that we could pay by cash or check. Knowing how the government operates, I asked The Wife to call the local office to make sure the details from the website were correct. She did and they confirmed everything. Great, right? Not so much.

When they got to the office, they were told that she needed her old passport and her birth certificate. Well that sucks. My worst fears were realized in that no matter how hard you try to make dealings with the government easier, they always go awry. Anyway, they headed back home to pick up the birth certificate. They made it back to the office, got all the paperwork filled out and processed. Then it was time to pay. The Wife forked over the $100 fee in cash. That’s when they told her that they don’t accept cash. You’re kidding me right? This after they said that was an acceptable form of payment on their website and The Wife double-checked over the phone? Not to mention that every Federal Reserve Note says “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE”.

I just wanted to rant about this to you and I hate to turn this political, but think about this for a moment. Think about this experience at the passport office; think about what a nightmare the DMV is; think about the IRS. You may have had other experiences interacting with the government. It’s nearly always a nightmare. The crush of massive bureaucracy and rampant incompetency is staggering.

How can anyone out there really think that the federal government can do a better job with health care? Universal health care would be an unmitigated disaster. Think of your DMV experience…that’s what going to the doctor or hospital will be like. We’ve got to stand against this.